The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[3.01] senioritis

It took a few minutes, but Lydia finally managed to finish her second paragraph. Letting out a triumphant whoop, she grabbed her laptop off of the desk and showed it to Gwen. "Okay, second paragraph's done—tell me how awful it is." 

Gwen rolled her eyes before reading over the paragraph, nodding slightly to herself as her eyes skimmed over the words. "Looks good," Gwen said, handing the laptop back after a moment. "Good quotes, good interpretations. Follows your thesis. Keep it up and it'll be A material."

"Thank God!" Lydia moaned, closing her laptop and flopping down on Gwen's bed. "That's it—I'm done for the day." 

"Don't you have a chemistry packet due tomorrow?" Gwen questioned. 

Lydia narrowed her eyes at her best friend. "Why do you insist on reminding me of things that hurt me?" 

Gwen laughed, reaching into her backpack and tossing one of her notebooks at Lydia. "Use my notes—they actually make sense, unlike someone's." 

Lydia rolled her eyes at Gwen's playful jab. "You know, bad handwriting can be a sign of higher intelligence." 

"Are you calling my girlfriend dumb, Rowe?" Leah asked, finally looking up from her book. 

"Just dumber than me," Lydia amended, her tone too light for anyone to take seriously.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at her, but her red cheeks from Leah calling her her girlfriend erased most of the challenge in her expression. "And which one of us is going to college?" 

Lydia pouted. "Just because I'm not going doesn't mean I couldn't if I wanted to," she mumbled. 

"Of course it doesn't," Gwen teased, patting Lydia's cheek playfully. "Now do you chemistry homework." 

By the time Lydia finished her chemistry packet—she'd never admit it out loud, but Gwen's notes were a lot easier to understand—it was about six-thirty in the evening. She handed Gwen back her notebook and stuffed her chemistry packet back into her backpack. 

"Now that that's over, I'm off to see my boyfriend," Lydia announced. 

"You're leaving me after Leah threatened my life?" Embry asked, feigning a wounded look. 

Lydia shook her head, kicking his leg lightly. "You'll be fine, Embry," she said. "Gwen hates violence—Leah won't attack if she's around."

"Just wait until I get you alone," Leah said menacingly, making Embry's face pale slightly. Gwen and Lydia snorted in amusement. That was Leah's way of joking—dead serious and cold but not at all sincere.

"You're still coming to the council meeting next weekend, right?" Embry asked, abandoning his fearful façade as he threw her discarded sweatshirt at her.

Lydia nodded, draping the sweatshirt over her arm. She and Gwen had been invited by their respective imprints to sit in on the Quileute tribe's upcoming council meeting to hear their legends. She was looking forward to hearing the tribe's histories. Ever since she first started learning the history behind her own species from Adam and Juliette's journals, she'd discovered a newfound interest in the histories of other supernatural creatures. "Marked it on my calendar." 

"You don't own a calendar," Embry deadpanned. 

"There's one in my planner!" Lydia protested. 

"You lost your planner last month," Gwen pointed out.

"Okay, fine," Lydia said. "But I'll still be there, calendar or not. Now, if make fun of Lydia's inability to keep track of things hour is over, I'll be going."